The co-op of Breck/Blake in Class A and Edina in Class AA will be looking to defend their 2009 state titles when this year's State Boys' Swimming and Diving Meet starts on Thursday, March 4 and runs through Saturday, March 6 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

 

If Edina wins it would be the third consecutive title for the Hornets. Breck/Blake won three individual events and swept the relays last year, defeating the runners-up from St. Thomas Academy by 29 points. This year Breck/Blake has qualifiers in every event except the 100 yard breaststroke. The Edina Hornets are returning competitors to every event except diving. The Hornets won two individual events and one relay last year, but when their points were tallied they still outscored Minnetonka by 43 points.

 

In Class A, seven individual champions and three relay champions return from the 2009 meet. In Class AA, five individual champions and three relay champions are returning.

 

 

 

Class A — All eight teams that earned medals at the 2009 meet are returning this year. Breck/Blake, the defending champion, is the highest returning qualifier. The other teams are: Red Wing, runner-up; Fergus Falls, third; St. Thomas Academy of Mendota Heights, fourth; Hutchinson, fifth; Willmar, sixth; Sartell-St. Stephen, seventh; and Faribault, eighth. Fergus Falls has the best qualifying time of 1:39.80.

Class AA — Rosemount, which won top honors in 2009, returns with the fastest qualifying time of 1:36.61. The Irish will face off against six other 2009 medal-winning teams: Minnetonka, runner-up; Edina, third; Wayzata, fourth; Brainerd, sixth; Cretin-Derham Hall of St. Paul, seventh; and Lakeville North, eighth.

 

 

Class A — Nathan Yueh of Breck/Blake returns to defend his 2009 title. Three other 2009 medal-winners also return: Austin Gromatzky of Breck/Blake, runner-up; Stefan Lemke of Minnewaska Area of Glenwood, third; and Max Pratt of Minneapolis Washburn, fifth. Matt Wilcox of Bemidji owns the fastest qualifying time of 1:45.21.

Class AA — Defending champion Drew Johnson of Edina returns in search of more gold. Johnson also owns this year’s best time of 1:42.21. Four other 2009 medalists also return: Chris Satterthwaite of Edina, third; Alex Cox of Rochester Century, fourth; David Flickinger of Moorhead, fifth; and Zach Stettner of Minnetonka, sixth.

 

 

Class A — Two-time defending champion Mike Hurley of Fergus Falls is the highest returning qualifier. He also owns this year’s best qualifying time of 1:58.64. Three additional 2009 medalists also return: Mitchell Foster of Breck/Blake, runner-up; Quillan Oak of Detroit Lakes, fifth; and Sam Pritzker of Breck/Blake, seventh.

Class AA — Two medal-winners return from the 2009 field: Thomas Elling of Burnsville, fourth; and Gregory Norsten, of Woodbury, seventh. Mike Gratz of Edina has the best qualifying time of 1:54.89.

 

 

Class A — Tim Walker of Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield returns in search of his second consecutive gold medal. He’ll face tough competition from four other 2009 medal-winners: Tony Challeen of Simley, Inver Grove Heights, runner-up; Jack Markusen of Breck/Blake, sixth; Cameron Hyde of Sartell-St. Stephen, seventh; and Dylan Hoven of Bemidji, seventh in Class AA. Hyde owns the fastest qualifying time of 21.68.

Class AA — Defending champion Devon Meeks of Rosemount owns this year’s best qualifying time of 21.48. Ryan Whalen of the Winona Winhawks, who earned runner-up honors in 2009, is the only other returning medalist.

 

 

Class A — Two-time defending champion Turner Eckstrom of Red Wing leads the field of three returning 2009 medal-winners. The others are Zach Small of Mankato East/Loyola, third, and Trent Mock of Orono, eighth.

Class AA — Three medalists return from the 2009 field: Michael Golling of Moorhead, fourth; Andres Hansen of Minnetonka, fifth; and Drew Germain of Blaine, sixth.

 

 

Class A — Kyle Engen of Red Wing is the highest returning qualifier. He earned runner-up honors in 2009. Three other 2009 medalists also return: Eben Danielson of Fergus Falls, sixth; Sam Pritzker of Breck/Blake, seventh; and Sam Luby of Simley, eighth. Paul Fair of Monticello has the fastest qualifying time of 52.53.

Class AA — Brian Dailey-Arndt of Cretin-Derham Hall, St. Paul, who finished as the runner-up last year, leads the field of three returning medal-winners. The others are David Flickinger of Moorhead, fourth, and Maverick Hovey of Eden Prairie, fifth. Hovey also has the best qualifying time of 50.56.

 

 

Class A — Tim Walker of Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield returns in search of his second gold medal. Three other medalists also return from the 2009 field: Tony Challeen of Simley, runner-up; Jack Markusen of Breck/Blake, fifth; and Shay Mieczkowski of Melrose/Sauk Centre, eighth. Sartell-St. Stephen’s Cameron Hyde has the fastest qualifying time of 47.48.

Class AA — Defending champion Drew Johnson of Edina returns with the best qualifying time of 46.31. He will square off against two other 2009 medal-winners: Ryan Whalen of the Winona Winhawks, fifth; and Max Hubbard of Rosemount, eighth.

 

 

Class A — Two-time defending champion Nathan Yueh of Breck/Blake is the highest returning qualifier. He also owns this year’s best qualifying time of 4:56.42. Three additional medalists also return: Max Pratt of Minneapolis Washburn, third; Stefan Lemke of Minnewaska Area, fourth; and Carter Schlank of St. Thomas Academy, eighth.

Class AA — Alex Cox of Rochester Century, who won the gold medal in 2009, returns to defend his title. Two other 2009 medal-winners also return: Chris Satterthwaite of Edina, fourth; and Erik Kollasch of Burnsville, sixth. Satterthwaite owns the fastest qualifying time of 4:44.67.

 

 

Class A — Four teams that earned medals in 2009 return, including the defending champions from Breck/Blake. The other medal-winning teams with entries are: Simley, runner-up; Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield, fifth; and Bemidji, fifth in Class AA. Bemidji has the best qualifying time of 1:29.32.

Class AA — Four 2009 medal-winning teams return to this year’s meet, led by defending champion Rosemount. The other returning teams are: Edina, runner-up; Minnetonka, third; and Maple Grove, seventh. Edina has the fastest qualifying time of 1:26.76.

 

 

Class A — Defending champion Mitchell Foster of Breck/Blake returns in search of more gold. Two other medal-winners from 2009 also return: Cole Bateman of Hutchinson, runner-up; and Carter Schlank of St. Thomas Academy, Mendota Heights, sixth. The best qualifying time of 52.08 belongs to Mike Hurley of Fergus Falls.

Class AA — Brian Dailey-Arndt of Cretin-Derham Hall, who earned the gold medal last year, leads the field of three returning medalists. The others are: Jim Rafter of Mounds View, sixth; and Brian Carpenter of Edina, seventh. Devon Meeks of Rosemount has the fastest qualifying time of 51.49.

 

 

Class A — Quillan Oak of Detroit Lakes, who earned runner-up honors in 2009, is the highest returning qualifier. Two other 2009 medal-winners also return: Paul Brunkhorst of St. Thomas Academy, fourth; and Tony Trenzeluk of Simley, seventh. Brunkhorst owns the fastest qualifying time of 1:01.25.

Class AA — There are no returning medalists in this event because all of the 2009 medal-winners were seniors. Burnsville’s Thomas Elling has the best qualifying time of 57.49.

 

 

Class A — All eight 2009 medal-winning teams return in this event. They are: defending champion Breck/Blake; Fergus Falls, runner-up; Simley, third; St. Thomas Academy, fourth; Willmar, fifth; Sartell-St. Stephen, sixth; Sauk Rapids- Rice, seventh; and Grand Rapids, eighth. Bemidji, which placed eighth in Class AA last year, owns the best qualifying time of 3:16.85.

Class AA — Edina, which won the title last year, returns with the fastest qualifying time of 3:09.36. Five additional 2009 medal-winning teams also return: Wayzata, runner-up; Rochester Century, fourth; Lakeville North, fifth; Minnetonka, sixth; and Brainerd, seventh.

 

 

This year’s state meet will start on Thursday, March 4, and run through Saturday, March 6. All events will take place at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

 

The Class A one-meter diving preliminaries, the first five of eight dives for the state meet, will begin at noon on Thursday, followed by the Class AA diving preliminaries at 6:00 p.m. The Class A swimming preliminaries begin at noon on Friday, followed by the Class AA swimming preliminaries at 6 p.m. The Class A championship finals of all events begin at noon on Saturday, followed by the Class AA finals at 6 p.m.

 

Tickets will be available at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Prices are $5.00 for both students and adults for the diving preliminaries, and $8.00 for both students and adults for the swimming preliminaries and for the swimming and diving finals.